Clint Hurdle
Clint Hurdle
Clinton Merrick Hurdleis an American former professional baseball outfielder and current manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball. Hurdle played in MLB for the Kansas City Royals, Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets, and St. Louis Cardinals, and has also managed for the Colorado Rockies...
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth30 July 1957
CityBig Rapids, MI
behind change direction front land layout marks starting
We're starting to make some marks in the right direction on the road. The layout of the land behind us is what it is. We can't change that. We can change what's in front of us.
avoiding expect factors finishing games home last motivating record winning
Having a winning record at home or avoiding finishing last weren't motivating factors for us. When you are 27 games under .500, can we really expect to be better at home?
consistent hitting home jury maybe shown talking work
I think the jury is still out on his bat. We'll work more with him and maybe see if there's a little more there. We're not talking about hitting home runs. We want him to be more consistent with the barrel. He's shown some improvement.
focus home meaningful special
You take a more meaningful focus when you are in Todd's situation. He had to feel something special (after the home run).
complete gave hammer homer pitch talk
After he gave up that homer in the sixth, I think he had a little talk with himself. He just put the hammer down after that. He wanted to pitch a complete game.
bottom fact gained home line opening played players respect special spring teammates zero
Obviously, he is having a special spring. He's gained the respect of his teammates and he has gained the respect of the players he has played against. But the bottom line is it is spring training. The fact is there is going to be an Opening Day and he is going to have zero home runs.
home plate reason runner safety slow unless
The responsibility's on the runner to run through home plate all the time. There's no reason to ever slow down unless it's a home run. That way it's safety first and there's no questions.
bar difficult high hit home
Obviously, we set the bar very high on the road, and we need to play better at home. We know that. When you don't pitch, hit or play defense, it's very difficult to win.
initially
Initially we just wanted him to be able to get healthy. And now for him to come back and be able to pitch, that's a plus.
further physically seems stretch
I don't know that we want to stretch him out further than that. . . . He doesn't have an old body. He seems to be pretty physically fit.
alarming number
His strikeouts are a little alarming for his number of at-bats,
group todd win
I think it was as important for the group to win without Todd in the lineup as it was for Todd to see the group win without him,
aware gate gotten happy roll slow
He is well aware he has come out of the gate slow and then gotten on a roll by the end of May. He is not happy with it, and we think there is better there. We know there is better there. It is up to him.
answering ball challenged hit seen talk
You talk about being challenged and answering the challenge. He has hit the ball (recently) as well as I have ever seen him hit the ball.